Women and Minorities in STEM Booster Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2217 To increase the participation of historically underrepresented demographic groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and industry. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 24, 2021 Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. PADILLA, and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To increase the participation of historically underrepresented demographic groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and industry. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women and Minorities 4 in STEM Booster Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2217.IS S2217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2217 IS SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPA- 1 TION OF WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED 2 MINORITIES IN STEM FIELDS. 3 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 4 (1) According to the National Academy of 5 Sciences, STEM education is critical to ensuring the 6 United States maintains a diverse and competitive 7 workforce. 8 (2) According to the United States Census Bu- 9 reau, women were still vastly underrepresented in 10 the STEM workforce in 2019: comprising nearly 11 half of the United States workforce (48 percent), 12 but only slightly more than a quarter of STEM 13 workers (27 percent). 14 (3) According to the National Science Founda- 15 tion, women only represent 28 percent of all science 16 and engineering workers: comprising 29 percent of 17 physical scientists, 25 percent of computer and 18 mathematical scientists, and 13 percent of engineers. 19 (4) According to the National Center of Edu- 20 cation Statistics (NCES), women are more likely 21 than men to switch out of STEM majors: 32 per- 22 cent, compared to 26 percent. NCES has also found 23 that while a higher percentage of bachelor’s degrees 24 are awarded to females than males (58 percent, 25 compared to 42 percent), within STEM fields a 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2217.IS S2217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2217 IS lower percentage of bachelor’s degrees were awarded 1 to females than males (36 percent, compared to 64 2 percent). 3 (5) According to the National Action Council 4 for Minorities in Engineering, Inc., the United 5 States needs to increase the number of underrep- 6 resented minorities who become engineers in order 7 to remain competitive in a world of technological in- 8 novation. 9 (6) According to Asian Americans Advancing 10 Justice (AAJC), data on Asian Americans and Pa- 11 cific Islanders (AAPIs) tend to hide the fact that 12 certain AAPI subgroups are still underrepresented 13 in STEM: with Cambodian (9 percent), Laotian (8 14 percent), Hmong (8 percent), and Native Hawaiian 15 and Pacific Islander (7 percent) workers signifi- 16 cantly underrepresented compared to other workers 17 in the United States (12 percent). 18 (7) Data also tend to hide the fact that certain 19 subgroups are underrepresented in postsecondary 20 education: with Cambodian (18 percent), Hmong (17 21 percent), Laotian (16 percent), and Native Hawaiian 22 and Pacific Islander (15 percent) students receiving 23 a bachelor’s degree or higher at lower rates than 24 other students (30 percent). Furthermore, certain 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2217.IS S2217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2217 IS subgroups also experience poverty at higher rates: 1 with Hmong (28 percent), Cambodian (21 percent), 2 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (20 percent), 3 and Laotian (17 percent) households living below the 4 Federal poverty level at significantly higher rates 5 than the overall population (15 percent). 6 (8) Finally, NCES has found that women and 7 underrepresented minorities leave STEM at higher 8 rates than their counterparts, leading to a need to 9 develop resources to retain these groups in STEM. 10 (b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Director of the 11 National Science Foundation shall award grants to eligible 12 entities, on a competitive basis, to enable such eligible en- 13 tities to carry out the activities described in subsection (d), 14 in order to increase the participation of women and under- 15 represented minorities in the fields of science, technology, 16 engineering, and mathematics. 17 (c) APPLICATION.—Each eligible entity that desires 18 to receive a grant under this section shall submit an appli- 19 cation to the National Science Foundation at such time, 20 in such manner, and containing such information as the 21 Director of the National Science Foundation may reason- 22 ably require. 23 (d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity 24 that receives a grant under this section shall use such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2217.IS S2217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2217 IS grant funds to carry out one or more of the following ac- 1 tivities designed to increase the participation of women or 2 minorities underrepresented in science and engineering, or 3 both: 4 (1) Online workshops. 5 (2) Mentoring programs that partner science, 6 technology, engineering, or mathematics profes- 7 sionals with students. 8 (3) Internships for undergraduate and graduate 9 students in the fields of science, technology, engi- 10 neering, and mathematics. 11 (4) Conducting outreach programs that provide 12 elementary school and secondary school students 13 with opportunities to increase their exposure to the 14 fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathe- 15 matics. 16 (5) Programs to increase the recruitment and 17 retention of underrepresented faculty. 18 (6) Such additional programs as the Director of 19 the National Science Foundation may determine. 20 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 21 (1) the term ‘‘minority’’ means American In- 22 dian, Alaskan Native, Black (not of Hispanic ori- 23 gin), Hispanic (including persons of Mexican, Puerto 24 Rican, Cuban, and Central or South American ori- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2217.IS S2217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2217 IS gin), Asian (including underrepresented subgroups), 1 Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander origin subgroup, 2 or other ethnic group underrepresented in science 3 and engineering; and 4 (2) the term ‘‘underrepresented in science and 5 engineering’’ means a minority group whose number 6 of scientists and engineers per 10,000 population of 7 that group is substantially below the comparable fig- 8 ure for scientists and engineers who are White and 9 not of Hispanic origin, as determined by the Sec- 10 retary of Education under section 637.4(b) of title 11 34, Code of Federal Regulations. 12 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 13 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 14 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2022, 2023, 2024, 15 2025, and 2026. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jul 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2217.IS S2217 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS